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Matthew Vella
Disorganisation, lack of coordination, and a campaign strategy undermined from its very start – a “secret” report on the defeat of the Nationalist Party at the 2004 European Parliament elections has revealed how Lawrence Gonzi’s first electoral fray as party leader turned into one of the PN’s most historic losses in 50 years.
Revealed earlier this week in General Workers Union daily l-orizzont, the report had been kept under lock and key ever since its compilation in September 2004, and was never shown to party committee members.
The “findings”, penned by a commission of observers and party friends, may have produced an unsurprising conclusion: the PN had suffered a bout of grand disillusionment, its MPs and activists were less than excited about the elections, and it had seriously compromised its electoral strategy.
What stands out is however Lawrence Gonzi’s recent election to the party helm, merely two weeks before hammering out a new strategy with his new confidantes, had failed to generate any enthusiasm for the upcoming European elections.
Even Gonzi’s own strategy group failed to stick to its plan for the elections. The commission expressing bafflement at the gross deviation from its initial plan, when the strategy group itself was led by Gonzi and Joe Saliba, and Gonzi’s head of secretariat, Edgar Galea Curmi “who had the greatest power in coordinating the work between the different ministries and organs of the PN.”
Key to the commission’s findings was a deliberate U-turn on the PN’s initial electoral strategy not to launch any attack on Alternattiva Demokratika, the Green Party, whose candidate Arnold Cassola garnered a remarkable 9.3 per cent of the general vote.
Egged on by deputy leader Tonio Borg’s attacks on AD’s European counterparts and their stand in favour of abortion, the commission easily deduced that the repeated attacks on AD had disillusioned traditional PN voters.
The PN went on to register major defeats in traditional strongholds in the tenth district and Gozo, whilst AD managed a historic 20 per cent of the vote in the tenth district alone.
Apathy amongst Nationalist parliamentarians, local councillors, mayors and other district leaders also marred the campaign – according to the commission, MEP candidates said they felt isolated in a campaign which lacked enthusiasm:
“Many MPs and local councillors did not do their part. They did not knock on doors, were not present at local offices, did not accompany Nationalist candidates in their locality visits, did not help them in the districts, in few words they made no special effort in urging people to vote, and vote for the Nationalist candidates.”
Even ministers were singled out for their lack of support, whilst Labour presented an organised and coordinate campaign in which everyone, from councillor to frontbencher, pitched in to support their candidates.
The party’s new strategy group, constituted two weeks into Gonzi’s leadership, failed to include any MPs or local councillors. “In our opinion, this was a deficiency since the planning process did not bring together elements which normally could feel the national pulse…”
Instead Gonzi rallied Galea Curmi and Saliba, along with director of information Gordon Pisani and the heads of the PN media. The group also included Michael Fenech, director at the party’s think-tank AZAD, and also Lawrence Zammit – Air Malta chairman and one of the director at pollsters MISCO.
The commission claimed the strategy group had relied too much on opinion polls which, between the second and fifth week of campaigning, showed the PN was enjoying “immense popularity”, staying ahead of the Malta Labour Party, and AD, whose ratings enjoyed positive fluctuations between 5 and 10 per cent every week.
The commission said the ratings could not have been realistic: with a massive 50,000 vote loss from its 2003 re-election, the debacle at the European elections showed the PN had suffered from years of growing disillusionment within the electorate, with great haemorrhages in strongholds such as the tenth district.
According to the commission, what saved the PN from an electoral loss earlier in 2003, had been the bid for EU membership. A post-electoral brief prepared by the PN itself had stated that voters felt the party had not offered any solutions to the problems it had created in government. The commission reported that MPs, which were left unnamed, complained they had neither been told the party’s strategy in detail, nor had they been asked to help in the campaign.
Too many unfulfilled promises since its 2003 re-election, had now translated into a loss of credibility for the party-in-government.
Now it faced the uphill struggle of trying to justify an ailing economy, increasing unemployment, threats from an MLP whose “hardcore” was faithful to the party, and an rising threat from AD.
Contrasted to such “real” disadvantages, the campaign strategy group had been hoping it would rely on the PN being “the EU party”, eager to expose the division on European accession at the heart of Labour. Even Gonzi’s election to party leader, and the 1 May accession celebrations, were considered to be “advantages” for the party in the EP elections.
Coupled with that was a failure by the PN to talk about local issues affecting the people, instead deciding to focus on European issues – the commission claimed people wanted to talk about inflation, unemployment and pensions.
The commission, appointed back in June 2004, was made up of John O’Dea, journalist Godfrey Grima, Frank Mifsud, TV presenter Abigail Mallia, and psychiatrist Anton Grech.
mvella@mediatoday.com.mt
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